Soon the space between the water and the forest gradually diminished,
and seemed to join at a point not far ahead. Joe observed this with
some concern, being aware that to meander among the trees at such an
hour was impossible. He therefore inclined toward the river, resolved
to defer his re-entrance into the forest as long as possible. As he
drove on he kept up a continual groaning, with his head hung to one
side, as if suffering with the toothache, and occasionally reproaching
Pete with some petulance, as if a portion of the blame attached to his
sagacious pony.

"Why do you keep up such a howling, Joe? Do you really suffer much
pain?" inquired Glenn, annoyed by his man's lamentations.

"It don't hurt as bad as it did--but then to think that I was such a
fool as to go right into the beast's clutches, when even Pete had more
sense!"

"If it was actually a bear, Joe, you can boast of the thrilling
encounter hereafter," said Glenn, in a joking and partly consoling
manner.

"But if I have many more such, I fear I shall never get back to relate
them. My face is all swelled--Huzza! yonder is a light, at last! It's
on this side of the river, and if we can't get over the ferry
to-night, we shall have something to eat on this side, at all events.
Ha! ha! ha! I see a living man moving before the fire, as if he were
roasting meat." Joe forgot his wound in the joy of an anticipated
supper, and whipping the horses into a brisk pace, they soon drew near
the encampment, where they discovered numerous persons, male and
female, who had been prevented from crossing the river that day, in